BBC planned building camouflage to confuse Germans

The BBC considered camouflaging Broadcasting House against German bombers
during the Second World War by painting fake street scenes and dummy shadows
on its walls.

A soldier guarding Broadcasting House, London, during World War II and a general view of the then newly-built BBC Broadcasting House.Photo: BBC

By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor

7:00AM BST 28 Aug 2009

Staff feared that the Germans would easily spot the central London building, which was made of gleaming white Portland stone.

The plan was contained in a memo released on Thursday by the BBC from its wartime archives. Other documents detail the corporation’s intention to hand over editorial control to the Government.

In a memo dated September 28, 1939 and headed ‘Broadcasting House: Protection’, house superintendent HL Chilman wrote to his superiors: “If we are going to have a succession of bright moonlit nights this winter, might it not be worthwhile having a ‘street’ or two and perhaps ‘cross roads’ and an odd dummy shadow or two on the south end and west face of Broadcasting House? At 2am tonight the building shone beautifully.”

The idea was dismissed as Mr Chilman’s bosses felt confident that enemy bombers could not target the building.

In a handwritten remark to a colleague, WK Newson, Assistant Defence Executive at the BBC, wrote: “I cannot appreciate any reason for camouflaging Broadcasting House. I am extremely doubtful if any enemy will be able to get low enough to hit the building deliberately. If the building is a good aiming mark from a high height, I feel we are safer still.”

On October 3, RS Stafford, the Defence Executive, wrote in reply to Mr Chilman: “With reference to your memo of September 28... I really don’t think that camouflaging Broadcasting House would be much use. It isn’t the only white building - the London University is much more conspicuous.

“Anyhow if an aeroplane wished to hit it, it would have to release its bomb some distance off and would have to get its sight of its target still further off. I doubt whether they could spot any building not actually on the Thames from 15,000ft and on a clear night they would have to fly even higher than that.”

Mr Newson’s words of reassurance were misplaced. Broadcasting House was bombed three times between 1940 and 1941. One of the attacks killed seven members of staff.

As early as 1935, it was agreed by the BBC and the Imperial Defence Committee that “in time of war or when the threat of an emergency was imminent, the Government should assume effective control” of the airwaves.

Newly released minutes from a 1937 meeting of the BBC’s top brass disclose that at least six news staff would be placed at the disposal of the Ministry of Information to censor scripts. The Post Office would take over all wireless exchanges and station an official at each amplifying station to jam any “interpolations”.

Another memo details what staff should do in the event of an air raid. “It is very desirable that programmes and rehearsals should not be interrupted more than is necessary by frequent air raid warnings, and it is understood that many members of the staff would prefer to be allowed to go on working during these warnings as far as possible,” employees were told. “Certain studios have been treated so that they are proof as far as is practicable against splinters, which are the most common cause of air raid casualties.”